Saturday, June 30, 2012

Bisbee

Not much happens in Bisbee. In the early 1880s, the town made national news as a flawed payroll robbery led to a shootout in the street and varied people dying. The culprits were later tracked down, caught and hanged in Tombstone, while the supposed gang leader, John Heath, was lynched from a telegraph pole. Since then, life in Bisbee has been rather dull.

It is odd how way back when, Bisbee was a bustling place for pro wrestling.

One of the first attempts at presenting shows offered miners being paid money to fight each other in a roped off area, while bets were laid on the side. Sometimes a work and soemtimes a shoot, these wrestling contests often escalated into savage brawls with serious injuries that were undeniably real.

Traveling carnivals often came through the area as well, with their tough man taking on all comers.

By World War II, the wrestling was all but dead in Bisbee. The Tucson office would occasionally do a spot show, sending in Don Arnold, Brute Bemis, The Gorky Brothers, Chief Shoulderblades, Juan Garcia, Kangaroo Karson, Kenny Mayne, Monte Ladue, Johnny James or others off their established wheel.

Fans wanting wrestling who lived in Bisbee and the surroundings just found it easier to go up to Tucson or across the border in Agua Prieta..